Samashti means the entire creation

Questions & Answers

Do you sing daily? (The lady said that she sang at home when alone.) When you sing alone, that is yashti. When you sing with everybody here, participate in the bhajan with everyone that is samasthi. Samashti means the entire creation.

It is said that souls chose their parents. Why do abortions and cases of rape etc. happen?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

This is called janam rahasya (secret of birth). Many souls compete to get a body and only one can win. It’s like a running race. Like millions of people compete and only one wins, in the same way there is a rush and only one gets a body. That’s why it is said that the human birth and life are very precious. Don’t waste it on insignificant things. We eat to live and not live to eat. Many people start living just to eat. There are many possibilities – what soul can come and what not? The possibilities are infinite. Nobody knows.

How does one deal with insensitive people?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Don’t let it affect you. When you say somebody is insensitive, you are branding yourself as very sensitive. The moment you give a license to yourself to be very sensitive, you start to justify yourself when you get upset. The world is big and there are all sorts of people in the world. We have to live with all and work with them.

What is ‘stridhan’?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

In ancient India there was a system. The man of the house used to give some money to his wife. This money was not to be touched. The lady’s money was always built up. The man would give a portion of his earnings, five – ten percent of his income to the lady at home and the man had no right to touch it. She would build that money up.

This used to be our system. All this is gone. All the good traditions have been ignored and we have adopted all the bad habits.

Guruji, please talk on the story of Ajmila in Srimad Bhagwad.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

In Srimad Bhagwad there is a story of king Ajamila. He had many vices. When he was on his death bed he called his son’s name – Narayan. And when he uttered God’s name, he got liberated. This story is there to build trust in people that however their past has been, there is no need to waste time in tension and guilt about the past. Even at the last moment if you chant Narayana’s (Lord’s) name, you have a chance to be liberated. This does not at all mean that you do whatever you want in life and at the last moment chant Narayana’s name. It doesn’t give you the license to indulge in vices. It only indicates that you don’t have to be guilty of your past and go on repenting the past. The past is gone. At least now be devoted and connected to the Divine.

What is time?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

(making a gesture with his hand, turning it upside down) Got it? If you don’t get it, you will never get it.